TALKING POINTS

Meeting of Donors in Geneva
The second meeting of donors to address the reform of the Afghan security sector was held yesterday in Geneva. The first meeting was held on the fringes of the larger donors' conference in Tokyo in January and this was the second.

The agenda was the same for both meetings and consisted of the following items: building a national army, building a national police force, demobilization, strengthening the judicial and penal systems and administration of justice and counter narcotics.

There were 35 delegations present. Another meeting following up on yesterday's will be held in the first half of May in order to move from proposals to specific commitments and programme implementation.

Two documents were circulated: one was a paper prepared by the Afghan Interim Authority and it put forward proposals for the structure and composition and cost for a national army and for a programme of demobilization.
The second document was an outline circulated by the United States on the American contribution to the training of an Afghan national army.

Total budget needed: US$ 422 million broken down as follows:
Military: US$ 235 million for training, equipment, maintenance, and salaries. Police: US$187 million. Some are not recurrent costs so the second year might not be as much.

Total size of armed forces: 80,000 broken down as follows:
Army of 60,000; air force of 8,000 and 12,000 border guards, and a police force of 70,000.

The plan includes assistance to some 70, 000 people to be demobilized and another 100,000 former combatants.

Five areas were established to coordinate the mechanism for contributions.
On military training, the United States will take the lead. On police, Germany is the lead on counter narcotics, it is the United Kingdom, on demobilization, it is the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and on support for the judicial, penal and administration of justice sector, it is Italy.

Refugee Repatriation Agreement
A key refugee repatriation agreement was signed on Wednesday 3 April in Geneva by the governments of Iran, Afghanistan and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

The Agreement, which contains 29 Articles, covers a wide range of legal and operational matters affecting returning refugees, both while they are still in Iran and once they have returned to Afghanistan. It formalises UNHCR's role in monitoring the voluntariness of the return, and guarantees the agency's free access to refugees and returnees on both sides of the border.

(Press release with more details is attached)

UNICEF Water Project
In southern Afghanistan, UNICEF, in collaboration with twenty NGOs, is rehabilitating or reconstructing 690 wells in the region, a project that will provide 300,000 people in the south with safe drinking water. The project will be completed in the coming days.

Also in the South, Habitat has begun repairing the Kandahar Municipality building. Habitat is also assisting the authorities in Kandahar with the development of the city's master plan. By the end of this week, the plan will be submitted to the central Government in Kabul for final approval.

Update on the Earthquake

Tremors continued in Nahrin on Tuesday but as of late yesterday afternoon no tremors were felt. The weather continued to remain dry, which was facilitating the aid effort.

Government authorities and aid officials on Tuesday jointly assessed three new areas in Nahrin District where needs of the quake affected population were identified. The three areas were Jelgah Valley, southeast of Nahrin City; Kogadai Bala, west of Nahrin; and Sugaan Valley, southwest of Nahrin. Out of a total population of 7,000 families, 1,400 were found to be in need of assistance and are being helped with tents, blankets, and clothing, while 900 of the 1,400 are receiving food aid.

Food Aid to Afghanistan under Threat

The United Nations World Food Programme today warned that it might have to stop or slow down several projects in Afghanistan if donors do not provide more support to a new US$285 million operation to assist millions of Afghans until the end of the year.

The operation aims to provide short-term rehabilitation and recovery of Afghanistan after three years of crippling drought and 23 years of devastating conflict.

Under this new nine-month operation, started on 1 April, the focus will gradually shift from relief to recovery with particular emphasis on education, health and the agricultural sector. It is estimated a total of 544,000 tons of food will be required. So far, the food aid agency of the United Nations, has received only US$ 63.9 million almost all from the US, or about 22 percent of the required resources, for this new operation.

• Update on the Special Commission of the Loya Jirga - Nader Nadery
• After the announcement of the procedures for the Emergency Loya Jirga, the second phase of the work of the Commission has started. It is also working on the internal procedures of the Loya Jirga session.
• Afghans from all over the country, from various ethnic groups, are visiting members of the Commission to learn more about the procedures and to show their support for the election process.
• One member of the Commission, Ms. Humaira Nematy, travelled to Mazar-i-Sharif for discussions with members of civil society and university students. She also visited Dawlat Abad where she met with women and discussed the participation of women in the Loya Jirga
• A weekly newsletter is being published on the work of the Special Commission for the Convening of the Loya Jirga. It will be published in Dari, Pashtu and English, and will be available every Thursday. [The second issue comes out today]

Spokesman

Questions and Answers

Q: Question on dates for the establishment of a National Army.
Spokesman: That is the plan, of course, we do not implement a plan of that magnitude from one day to the other, it is over a course of time. I do not have the precise timeframe to share with you.

Q: Question on demobilisation and absorption into civilian life.
Spokesman: The main element for absorption of those demobilised or former combatants, is the reconstruction programme. You have to have a [functioning] economy in order to absorb people into it. This is true of anywhere in the world, even if you are not talking about demobilising. If you are talking about "an army of unemployed" that is exactly what your objective is; [to have] an economy that can absorb your potential working force. This is certainly the case here and I think it is also fair to assume that some maybe utilised in the new forces, but that of course will have to wait for the recruitment procedures as they are further defined. The main point regarding demobilisation and reintegration is the reconstruction process that brings the economy to a greater speed. The informal sector, certainly as you see in Kabul, is more active than it was in the recent past and that seems to be a trend. The trade across borders, as for those of you who have been on the road have seen, there is a lot of truck traffic with goods circulating, that is also an indicator that the informal sector is picking up. We do need to have the reconstruction projects ongoing in order to really absorb this workforce.

Q: Question on the difference between those who are demobilised and those who are former combatants.
Spokesman: Those who need to be demobilised are those who are currently in some sort of organised force, and former combatants are those who are in the country but need assistance. They cannot just be there and not [be able to] provide for their families.

Q: Question on implementation of demobilisation.
Spokesman: I think the specificities we will hear when they meet again in May because this was a presentation made yesterday, and it was the first time most of the donor countries saw it. They have to go back to their capitals, they are very extensive documents and they have to come back with basically the money.

Q: On a bridge programme between now and May, and pay, for instance, Northern Alliance.
Spokesman: The police are already being paid, there is already a fund [that pays salaries to civil servants, including police]. [Inaudible} We are talking about payment for a national army which has yet to be established, it is not yet done.

Q: Is it fair to say that the Afghan Interim Authority has officially said it wants an army of 80,000?
Spokesman: Yes.

Q: What are the UN's concerns on this slow process and the possibility of becoming a target?
Spokesman: Being a target is not really the most important thing. The most important thing is the peace process and that is our concern. Security is the basic element of this peace process, and therefore with this view the reform of the security sector, the establishment of a national army, a police force, demobilisation and reintegration, the judicial system; these are keys elements that have to be tackled as soon as we can, and by 'we' I mean the international community along with the Interim Administration. There was a press conference in Geneva yesterday and in that press conference, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, who was leading the Afghan delegation, said that "With regard to the construction and building of the national army and national police force, in all aspects of reconstruction, of course, if we do not receive contributions, timewise, we will be in trouble, and the whole process will be in trouble, and peace and stability will be in trouble."

Q: [Inaudible]
Nader Nadery: Yes we are going to have wall paintings in Kabul city, like in Kabul University road, [inaudible] and maybe on a bridge and [on a wall] at the Ministry for Information and Culture. [Inaudible]

Q: First elections are on 13 April?
Nader Nadery: The [first phase will start, leading to the first] elections will start on 24 April. The first phase will start in one hundred election centres. We will have nine central election centres, then there will be monitoring groups in each district. For the first time the hundred districts will have elections.

Q: Will those elections choose delegates or will it just decide who goes to the forward to the step?
Nader Nadery: They will say who will go to the second step of the elections. First we have the elections at the district level and then they will choose their representative, and then there will be a direct election between these candidates.

Q: What is the agenda of the Implementation Group?
Spokeman: We do not have an agenda yet. I think it is fair to assume that it is a follow-up to the Tokyo Conference. The Implementation Group was established in Tokyo, it brings together donors, a few NGOs, the Interim Administration and the United Nations.

Q: Question on money coming in from Tokyo.
Spokesman: I do not think there is a lot of money from [the] Tokyo [Conference] coming in yet. I do think that some activity is happening as a result of the money from Tokyo, such as the 'Back to School' with 1.5 million people, some of the food, repatriation. I do not have numbers to give you right now.

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World Food Programme (WFP)

FOOD AID TO AFGHANISTAN UNDER THREAT

Kabul -The United Nations World Food Programme today warned that it might have to stop or slow down several projects in Afghanistan if donors do not provide more support to a new US$285 million operation to assist millions of Afghans until the end of the year.

The operation aims to provide short-term rehabilitation and recovery of Afghanistan after three years of crippling drought and 23 years of devastating conflict.

Under this new nine-month operation started on April 1st, the focus will gradually shift from relief to recovery with particular emphasis on education, health and the agricultural sector. It is estimated a total of 544,000 tons of food will be required. So far, the food aid agency of the United Nations, has received only US$ 63.9 million almost all from the US, or about 22 percent of the required resources, for this new operation.

"The support we have received so far will only be enough to help our beneficiaries for a couple of months. There is a lot of goodwill out there but we need it translated into cash and food .We can not afford to lose more time. Even if we include the remaining funds from our previous operation we still have only 37 % of the total resources needed. However, we require at least 50% of the total resources now, in order to assist almost nine million people who would need food aid each month before the harvest in July," WFP Afghanistan Country Director Burkard Oberle said.

"The Donor countries and organizations have been very generous in the past few months. Their food has saved many lives in Afghanistan this winter. We hope they will continue to be as supportive and that reassurances will be turned into food sooner rather than later," Oberle said.

Because of soaring needs in Afghanistan WFP, has sent more than 370,000 tons of food to six million impoverished Afghans, who are dependent on food aid, since the beginning of October.

Apart from dealing with the immediate emergency, WFP is working with the Interim Administration in support of rapid impact programs to rebuild parts of the country's basic infrastructure to rehabilitate irrigation systems and reconstruct schools, hospitals, roads and bridges.

This operations helps Afghans displaced within the country to go back to their villages in time to plant their crops. Hundreds of thousands of refugees in neighbouring countries who are coming back home this year to rebuild their shattered lives will also be assisted.

WFP's school feeding projects, launched last week with the Ministry of Education to cover up to one million school children will also be threatened additional support is not forthcoming.

A very disappointing harvest last summer left Afghanistan with a cereal deficit of about 2.2 million tons. A new crop assessment will be carried out in July 2002 when the new harvest will be ready.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Key Repatriation Agreement for Afghana in Iran Signed in Geneva